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Remaking the Halo 4 Plot

I've been working on this project on the Halo Fanon Wiki but I'd really like some help. It's a Halo 4 Extended Cut; it adds new levels to the campaign, fills in some plot holes, improves acting and more but I need your help. I need help coming up with the transcript, improved character acting (Del Rio being the reluctant captain who cares for his crew; the Didact being closer to what he was in the books), dialogue, etc. that would perfect Halo 4.
[url=http://halofanon.wikia.com/wiki/Halo_4_Extended_Cut]Link.[/url]

For some reason, I had this idea when it came to new enemies.
Fusion Watcher/Knight/Crawler.
As in If there's more than one special enemy type around and there's a Fusion Watcher in the air, it'd combine a maximum of three forces together.
Like imagine you had a Fusion Watcher, Knight Commander, Knight Lancer, and Knight Battlewagon together. After the Watcher fuses them together, you get a Knight which can tele-charge like a Lancer, Melee with Battlewagon Strength, and wield an Incineration Cannon.
Sure, it sounds far fetched as hell, but I'd honestly love to fight one of those.

Actually, I'd honestly rather not have those new missions as "new missions".
Don't get me wrong, I love the idea. But the objectives in most of the missions seem to be "traversing" objectives- one of my favorite things about Halo 4 and CE is how each level felt like it had a purpose that wasn't just militaristic. Honestly, I'd put:
Prologue
Dawn
Requiem + Beachhead
Catacombs + Forerunner
Cage
Descent + Infinity
Reclaimer
Shutdown + Hunt
Composer
Midnight
Epilogue

[quote][b]Posted by:[/b] ajw34307
[quote][b]Posted by:[/b] Sliding Ghost
I'm leaning towards Jul trying to overthrow Didact in typical bad guy fashion or further bastardization of Didact's character by stepping on his former allies.[/quote]
The very reason Jul went to Requiem was to release the Didact because he knew he was a warrior who fought against and hated humans - when Jul arrives on Kelekos, the Sangheili there who form the Covenant forces in Halo 4 believe that the Didact is a sacred warrior who will return to save the Sangheili from humanity.
Jul isn't the kind of person who wants to take power for the sake of it.[/quote]Yeah Jul isn't fanatical like the others.
Assuming that scene is used in Spartan Ops, what could possibly lead to it?

[quote][b]Posted by:[/b] Sliding Ghost
I'm leaning towards Jul trying to overthrow Didact in typical bad guy fashion or further bastardization of Didact's character by stepping on his former allies.[/quote]
The very reason Jul went to Requiem was to release the Didact because he knew he was a warrior who fought against and hated humans - when Jul arrives on Kelekos, the Sangheili there who form the Covenant forces in Halo 4 believe that the Didact is a sacred warrior who will return to save the Sangheili from humanity.
Jul isn't the kind of person who wants to take power for the sake of it.

Awesome, that sounds like the campaign we SHOULD have gotten. When I first found out Halo 4 only had eight levels I was extremely upset. Love your story outline, and it works well with the original plot.

[quote][b]Posted by:[/b] Dragonzzilla
[quote][b]Posted by:[/b] Sliding Ghost
[/quote]I'm not entirely sure if the Storm would automatically ally with the Prometheans even though they did come looking for the Didact. What I would love to see is some authority issues in commanding forces between the Elites and Knights.[/quote]Yeah. It should be more of a forced situation, a perceived threat, a mutual relationship (holy crap, a wild Chief just appeared!) than "we're buddies just like that huh? K".
Yeah, since E3, I was under the impression that the Knights had overthrown the Elites and taken their place. In fact, I liked how Infinity originally played out; you come across a Covenant patrol. Anyways, it is very unusual for Elites to be absent.
So I'd really love to see authority issues between them, maybe even a rivalry that could end up breaking the alliance. Notice how Didact's Knight can be seen tossing an Elite in the E3 trailer. It's implied this alliance won't last long but I'm concerned about how it'll be done. I'm leaning towards Jul trying to overthrow Didact in typical bad guy fashion or further bastardization of Didact's character by stepping on his former allies.
Btw, here's some encounters I conceived for level Infinity.
[quote][u]Basic[/u]
Knight + Grunts and Jackals: same as in vanilla H4
Elite + Crawler Epsilons and Crawler Omegas: keep you on your toes, Elite enrages over losses
Jackals + Crawlers: shield and sword, Jackals form phalanxes
Knight + Elite: Elite rushes, Knight provides covering fire
Crawlers + Hunter pair: same as Drones + Hunter in H2 and H3
Watcher + Hunter pair: Watcher catches grenades and spawns Crawlers, Hunters more likely to charge, being reassured
[u]Intermediate[/u]
Knight Lancer + Elite Ranger: air and ground domination. Lancers are more tricky with their unique charge ability, displaying signs of doing it but not going through with it
Knight Commander + Elite Zealot:
-Knight Commander can use it's unique push ability to increase Zealot's leap melee range
-Auto-Sentry can alert Zealot when to cloak
Knight Battlewagon + Hunter:
-Battlewagon uses no guns (this is mostly a design change)
-friendly fire enabled
-both have unique fighting styles[/quote]
Not only does this team-up make them more efficient, but it also grants new abilities, new tactics to the less organized Covies.
My reasoning for Knight and Elite behavior: Knights have always been there for support, relying on Crawlers and Watchers. They lack aggression. Elites have always been there as the main troop, they can be a threat on their own. Their aggression is off the charts.
*deep sigh* That was a doozy...
[Edited on 01.08.2013 9:39 AM PST]

[quote][b]Posted by:[/b] CrabbySpider
Add a pair of Hunters. Halo encounters have always been fun, especially when you run around a corner only to find 5 tonnes of metal coming after you. Halo 4 missed this special and thoughtful encounters.[/quote]Ah yes. I remember reading Halo 4's achievements and was under the impression that the Hunter encounters would be in cqc. Only 1 encounter turned out like that.
I get that Hunters are supposed to act as guardians but it seems like their placement was for sake of difficulty alone.
I'd like them to have freeroaming capability (CE, H3), berserking over the loss of bond brother (H2, H3) combined with sudden burst of speed (CE), and "diving" capability (CE, H3). It'd also be nice to see them sleeping (CE), have them as allies at some point (H2), include the gold variant (ODST), and see them utilizing their shields (Reach, H4).
New stuff:
-make them try to intercept incoming light vehicles
-boarding Hunters when their back armor is removed and are at low health
-charge with their shield raised
-jump back when player goes in for a melee and retaliate
-less likely to do a turning melee
-removable stomach armor
Halo 4 could have redeemed their lackluster performances. Instead, it has left them mostly intact and they are just as rare as they were in Halo 3 (except this time, they cannot be led anywhere).
[quote][b]Posted by:[/b] Xalrons4410
[/quote]Marvelous, simply marvelous! I really wish I could address all of that!
I did feel their arsenal were lacking. Spartan Ops tries to mix things up by giving Knight variants different power weapons but it's just not the same. Battlewagons with ICs are even easier to put down while Lancers with ICs are just a pain.
[Edited on 01.08.2013 9:22 AM PST]

Add a pair of Hunters. Halo encounters have always been fun, especially when you run around a corner only to find 5 tonnes of metal coming after you. Halo 4 missed this special and thoughtful encounters.

Halo 4 has the fewest enemy types of any Halo game. Thus it's 8 missions introduce them at a reasonable pace. To make this number of levels work. I would strongly suggest re-adding a lot of the covenant enemies such as brutes, drones, skirmishers and scarabs, along with old covenant vehicles such as the shadow and the revenant.
Also at least 6 levels there include prometheans so they're going to need more variety as well as the design improvements you've suggested.
Personally I think the easiest way to improve the prometheans is to redesign their weapon set. At the moment, their weapon concept seems to be "unsc weapons but orange" which is hardly the most inspired of ideas. Instead I propose the following design ideals:
- very futuristic so do not resemble modern weapons
- very much part of the prometheans rather than something held, thus each weapon should form around chief's hand like a gauntlet.
- human weapons use bullets and clips, covenant weapons use irreplaceable batteries and overheat. The Promethean weapons should be distinguished from both of these. Perhaps with replaceable batteries that become unusable when they overheat. This would give the player the choice between finishing off the kill and overheating the gun, or waiting in order to preserve the battery.
- reintroduce the sentinel beam as a beam gauntlet, as this is very distinct from UNSC weapons and fits in with previous forerunner cannon.
- the forerunners have also been known to use lightning effects such as the pale blue lightning 343gs uses when taking the index from chief in Halo 1. So a lightning gauntlet would be a good short range weapon for the prometheans. Perhaps as you held down the trigger for longer the range could increase, this would make the lightning gauntlet difficult to escape from.
- The prometheans have a somewhat medieval naming system "knight, lancer, battlewagon" so perhaps a piece of weaponry could reflect this. Hence I propose a gauntlet mounted crossbow (the "light bow"), with lasers mounted at 40, 20, 0, -20 and -40 degrees horizontally from the reticle. Just pressing the trigger would emit reflecting beams from each of these lasers (like the scattershot's beams, but without limited range). Holding the trigger down would move the lasers, aligning them towards the centre and allowing from greater accuracy, changing the gun from being somewhat like a shotgun to somewhat like a sniper rifle.
- Finally I would propose 2 weapons that would make the watchers more interesting support units and would greatly improve multiplayer. The leech gauntlet and the transfer gauntlet. The leech gauntlet steals shield from the target and gives it to the user. The transfer gauntlet does the opposite, allowing watchers to give their own shields to keep knights alive in battle.
I believe these 5 weapons, which are completely different to any other weapons in Halo 4, would make the prometheans seem like fresh and interesting adversaries.

[quote][b]Posted by:[/b] Sliding Ghost
[quote][b]Posted by:[/b] Dragonzzilla
[quote][b]Posted by:[/b] Sliding Ghost
New levels you say? Sounds thrilling!
Can you give some background on Beachhead and Descent? Catacombs sounds plausible. Cage is a reference to the Scanned trailer is it not? I guess Hunt would be a nice bonus.
Btw, loving those Crawler changes. Crawler Snipe sounded good on paper but in-game, they are the only snipers in a Halo game I rage about (H2 Jackal snipers are overrated).[/quote]After the end of the level Requiem, Cortana and Chief go looking for a communications array that can help broadcast their signal and find a way off the planet. The nearest one is located on an island; Chief and Cortana pass through Valhalla and get to the Waterfront where you hijack a Covenant ride and take it to the island.
The island (tribute to the Cartographer in CE) is stormed and Chief and Cortana find themselves atop of Ravine where they finally descend into Catacombs. Catacombs introduces the Prometheans and helps enlighten the players who hadn't read the Forerunner books. Cage was influenced by the Scanned Trailer where the Didact learns more about the modern world. Hunt of course, would have one good 'ol Scarab.[/quote]Huh, I'll see if I can come up with some gameplay ideas. Valhalla sounds like a challenge. I felt Spartan Ops didn't utilize it well. The map variant with Prometheans felt right though.
I'm also interested in Infinity. Two armies yet they were rarely seen fighting alongside each other. Vanilla Halo 4's Knights + Grunts is possibly the most uncreative encounter in the game.[/quote]I'm not entirely sure if the Storm would automatically ally with the Prometheans even though they did come looking for the Didact. What I would love to see is some authority issues in commanding forces between the Elites and Knights.

[quote][b]Posted by:[/b] Dragonzzilla
[quote][b]Posted by:[/b] Sliding Ghost
New levels you say? Sounds thrilling!
Can you give some background on Beachhead and Descent? Catacombs sounds plausible. Cage is a reference to the Scanned trailer is it not? I guess Hunt would be a nice bonus.
Btw, loving those Crawler changes. Crawler Snipe sounded good on paper but in-game, they are the only snipers in a Halo game I rage about (H2 Jackal snipers are overrated).[/quote]After the end of the level Requiem, Cortana and Chief go looking for a communications array that can help broadcast their signal and find a way off the planet. The nearest one is located on an island; Chief and Cortana pass through Valhalla and get to the Waterfront where you hijack a Covenant ride and take it to the island.
The island (tribute to the Cartographer in CE) is stormed and Chief and Cortana find themselves atop of Ravine where they finally descend into Catacombs. Catacombs introduces the Prometheans and helps enlighten the players who hadn't read the Forerunner books. Cage was influenced by the Scanned Trailer where the Didact learns more about the modern world. Hunt of course, would have one good 'ol Scarab.[/quote]Huh, I'll see if I can come up with some gameplay ideas. Valhalla sounds like a challenge. I felt Spartan Ops didn't utilize it well. The map variant with Prometheans felt right though.
I'm also interested in Infinity. Two armies yet they were rarely seen fighting alongside each other. Vanilla Halo 4's Knights + Grunts is possibly the most uncreative encounter in the game.
[Edited on 01.07.2013 7:26 PM PST]

[quote][b]Posted by:[/b] Sliding Ghost
New levels you say? Sounds thrilling!
Can you give some background on Beachhead and Descent? Catacombs sounds plausible. Cage is a reference to the Scanned trailer is it not? I guess Hunt would be a nice bonus.
Btw, loving those Crawler changes. Crawler Snipe sounded good on paper but in-game, they are the only snipers in a Halo game I rage about (H2 Jackal snipers are overrated).[/quote]After the end of the level Requiem, Cortana and Chief go looking for a communications array that can help broadcast their signal and find a way off the planet. The nearest one is located on an island; Chief and Cortana pass through Valhalla and get to the Waterfront where you hijack a Covenant ride and take it to the island.
The island (tribute to the Cartographer in CE) is stormed and Chief and Cortana find themselves atop of Ravine where they finally descend into Catacombs. Catacombs introduces the Prometheans and helps enlighten the players who hadn't read the Forerunner books. Cage was influenced by the Scanned Trailer where the Didact learns more about the modern world. Hunt of course, would have one good 'ol Scarab.

New levels you say? Sounds thrilling!
Can you give some background on Beachhead and Descent?
Catacombs sounds plausible.
Cage is a reference to the Scanned trailer is it not?
I guess Hunt would be a nice bonus.
Btw, loving those Crawler changes. Crawler Snipe sounded good on paper but in-game, they are the only snipers in a Halo game I rage about (H2 Jackal snipers are overrated).
Edit:
Just read the talk page. Tuckerscreator has the right idea concerning Didact.
During the QTE, I relented, not planting the grenade on him because I knew of his background. If I hadn't read about him, I'd have just done it.
[Edited on 01.07.2013 6:48 PM PST]